In the automotive industry many vehicles are fitted with remote headphone jack plugs for vehicle passengers. This allows a passenger to plug a headphone into the vehicle's sound system to access either the audio or the family entertainment system independent of the vehicle's speaker system. The headphone jack commonly used in such applications is a standardized electrical connector pin. The electrical headphone receptacle or jack plug can be located in any of a number of locations including trim panels and on the rear side of the floor center console. Regardless of placement, the jack plugs are either flush with or protrude slightly from the mounting surface. According to this known arrangement the headphone jack, when inserted into the jack plug, protrudes into the passenger space without any support. Forces accidentally applied to the sides of the jack, or to the wires connecting the jack to the headphone, place stress on the plastic around the plug opening and on the electrical contact in the plug. These forces may be caused by any of a number of events, including foot movement by the passenger and tangled wires. Frequently the result of such forces is the breaking of the plastic around the plug opening and the bending and breaking of the electrical connection in the plug. The result is intermittent or complete loss of electrical signals to the headphones.
Accordingly, as in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is room in the art of vehicle audio systems for improving electrical connections for headphones.